The coffee business has been booming for a long time now. Where a couple of decades ago, people tended to just go for a black cup of Joe, maybe with a dash of milk or a scoop of sugar, coffee has now become a thing of the connoisseur. For those who are into it, you don’t just say coffee; you state its provenance, its roasting process, its taste notes, its way of brewing. Sure, things get complicated quite quickly but what can we say. We too enjoy a qualitative cup of the beverage, roasted in a local roaster and prepared on some state of the art machines. Snobbish? Undoubtedly. Delicious? You bet.
With all of the coffee freaks out there, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the industry is always evolving, constantly reinventing itself. There’s taste and – let’s be honest for a moment – money to be found in coffee. And especially since the news got out that the coffee bean is very likely to be threatened by global warming, we’re even more eager to get some while we can.
Camel milk
Although a rather big amount of people prefer to drink their coffee without any, the choice of milk to use is a part of the coffee industry on its own. Before, we didn’t really think about it. Cow’s milk it was – at least in the Western part of the world. Then, more and more people became aware of their lactose intolerance and soy milk got its moment of fame. Yet as of then, a whole new world of coffee milk options saw the light of day. Nowadays, we’ve got almond, oat, goat, cow, soy, pea, rice… the list of options is endless and we’re about to add another.
Because according to Omar Shariff, manager at CJ’s Restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya, camel-ccinos are the latest trend. Before, only locals asked for camel’s milk in their coffee, Shariff told CNN, yet now everybody’s jumping on the bandwagon. With the African continent being home to about 80% of the world’s camel population, it’s no surprise the camel-ccino found his roots here.
The animals are extremely adapted to harsh weather conditions – they can walk for up to 100 miles without drinking any water – and are therefore more and more seen as a climate friendly meat and dairy alternative. Yet before you start to get totally excited, we might add that on the international market, half a liter of camel milk sells for about 8 to 17 euros, which isn’t exactly cheap when you compare it to other alternatives. Yet who knows what the future might bring?
